PROPOSAL TO CREATE A HEALTH AND SOCIETY DEGREE PROGRAM IN THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS SECTION IN THE UNDERGRADUATE CATALOG 2014-2016

Dean Randy Diehl in the College of Liberal Arts has filed with the secretary of the Faculty Council the following changes to the College of Liberal Arts section in the Undergraduate Catalog, 2014-2016. On November 7, 2012, the faculty in the department approved the new degree program. The faculty of the college and the dean approved the changes on May 24, 2013, and June 24, 2013, respectively. The secretary has classified this proposal as legislation as being of general interest to more than one college or school (but not for submission to the General Faculty).

The Committee on Undergraduate Degree Program Review recommended approval of the change on January 22, 2014, and forwarded the proposed changes to the Office of the General Faculty. The Faculty Council has the authority to approve this legislation on behalf of the General Faculty. The authority to grant final approval on this legislation resides with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

If no objection is filed with the Office of the General Faculty by the date specified below, the legislation will be held to have been approved by the Faculty Council. If an objection is filed within the prescribed period, the legislation will be presented to the Faculty Council at its next meeting. The objection, with reasons, must be signed by a member of the Faculty Council.

To be counted, a protest must be received in the Office of the General Faculty by February 21, 2014.

PPROPOSAL TO CREATE A HEALTH AND SOCIETY DEGREE PROGRAM IN THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS SECTION IN THE UNDERGRADUATE CATALOG 2014-2016

Type of Change

Academic Change

IF THE ANSWER TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IS YES, THE COLLEGE MUST CONSULT NEAL ARMSTRONG WHO WILL DETERMINE WHETHER SACS-COC APPROVAL IS NEEDED.

• Is this a new degree program?

Yes

• Does the program offer courses that will be taught off campus?

No

• Will courses in this program be delivered electronically?

No

EXPLAIN CHANGE TO DEGREE PROGRAM AND GIVE A DETAILED RATIONALE FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL CHANGE:
This is a new degree program. The mission of the Health And Society (H&S) undergraduate major at The University of Texas at Austin is to train students to understand the social, demographic, cultural, economic, political, and ethical contexts underlying health patterns, health behavior, medical care, and health policy. To accomplish this overall mission, the health and society major includes three objectives for students: 1) develop an understanding of health patterns, health behavior, medical care, and health policy in social, demographic, cultural, economic, political, and ethical contexts through a foundation of coursework; 2) learn skills to analyze health patterns, health behavior, medical care, and health policy in context through required methodological/statistical and advanced seminar coursework; and 3) build a knowledge base in a specific area of health and society through sets of specialized coursework that allows students to improve their understanding health patterns, health behavior, medical care, and health policy in human populations.

SCOPE OF THE PROPOSED CHANGE(S):

a.

Does this proposal impact other colleges/schools? If yes, then how?If yes, then how? All H&S students will be required to take at least one course in a college/school other than CoLA and many of them will take several courses outside of College of Liberal Arts (CoLA). Of the six required courses, one of them (the biology course requirement) is offered exclusively in the College of Natural Sciences (CNS). A second (the Social/Behavioral Epidemiology course) offers two options—one in the College of Education and one in CoLA—and we anticipate that approximately one-half of the students will take this requirement outside of CoLA. And the lists of courses for the four specializations include courses both within CoLA and courses from many other colleges and schools. So in a nutshell, all will take at least one course outside of CoLA that is required for the major and many of the students will take several courses outside of CoLA.

Chairperson John Ivy (kinesiology September health education) expressed a minor concern that the name of one of the proposed specializations in a draft version of the H&S major was similar to one of the majors available in his department, called "Health Promotion." He asked the H&S faculty panel to consider whether the specialization we were constructing was quite different than the major in his department and, if so, to title our specialization something different to avoid both curriculum overlap and student confusion. Our faculty panel, which includes two faculty members from his department, reviewed the proposed specialization of our major that was initially termed "Health Behavior and Health Promotion", thought hard about the content, and ended up focusing this specialization exclusively on health behavior. We then opted to label this specialization, "Health and Behavior."

Yes

b.

Will students in other degree programs be impacted (are the proposed changes to courses commonly taken by students in other colleges)? If yes, then how?

No

c.

Will students from your college take courses in other colleges?

Yes

If 3 a, b, or c was answered with yes:

1.

How many students do you expect to be impacted?Impacted schools must be contacted and their response(s) included:

Person communicated with:

Leann Field (biological sciences)

Date of communication:

January 19, 2012

Response: Yes, I think it’s a wonderful initiative and we will participate.

Person communicated with:

Glenn Frankel (journalism)

Date of communication:

February 28, 2012

Response: Sounds like a very accurate summation of what we said and how we feel. Thanks to you, Karen and Brad for taking the time to come talk to us about it.

Person communicated with:

John Ivy (kinesiology and health education)

Date of communication:

January 20, 2012

Response: I am in support of the new health program conducted through the College of Liberal Arts with the changes in program name so stated on your email.

Person communicated with:

Alexa Stuifbergen (nursing)

Date of communication:

January 30, 2012

Response: Your summary fits with my recollection. I would also add that the School of Nursing will be one of the co-sponsoring schools/colleges. I am sure Gayle T. will also let us know if there is something additional. Best wishes with the development of the program.

Person communicated with:

James Pennebaker (psychology)

Date of communication:

January 24, 2012

Response: The idea of creating a health and society major is long overdue at UT. Although the psychology department does not have many courses that would directly funnel into this new major, I can imagine that many of your and our students would double major. I look forward to working with you on this in the coming years.

Person communicated with:

Luis Zayas (social work)

Date of communication:

February 7, 2012

Response:Thanks for the notes. They indeed reflect our conversation. As I mentioned at the meeting, I think this is a truly worthy major to pursue. The School of Social Work supports the creation of the health and society major.

approximately 100 per year.

2.

How many students do you expect to be impacted?Impacted schools must be contacted and their response(s) included:

Person communicated with:

Dr. James Karboski for item III. c.

Date of communication:

December 2, 2012.

Response:

a.

Professor Laura Suggs confirmed with Pharmacy professor James Karboski on December 2, 2013, that the expected number of BMEs who will choose this for an elective from the list of Technical Area 2 electives should be less than 10 each year, and that PHR can support this request.

Less than 10 per year.

3.

How many students do you expect to be impacted?Impacted schools must be contacted and their response(s) included:

Person communicated with:

Dr. John Bartholomew and Dr. John Dingwell for item IV. B.

Date of communication:

December 11, 2012.

Response:

a.

Professor Laura Suggs confirmed with Kinesiology Chair Dr. John Bartholomew, and Professor Jon Dingwell on December 11, 2013, that the expected number of BMEs who will choose this for an elective of Technical Area 4 electives should be less than 5 each year, and that KIN can support this request. Students wanting to take this course will go through the appropriate process to request registration in the class as a non-major.